Courant Article on Isiah "Pork Chop" Whaley

[mauconnfan]

I liked Pork Chop from day 1 and thought he'd bring more last year. I don't think he did the things to prepare that the new coach expected therefore he fell down the ladder. Remember early Dan said he liked his ability to move for his size and thought he may have a good chance to win some minutes. Having said that I was disappointed in him not winning minutes last year so thought he may be heading out. It looks like he wants to work harder and be a bigger part of the Huskies the last 2 years of his career and you have to respect that. Tough not to root for Isaiah hope he finds his niche on this team that will need some minutes from all bigs on the roster at some point even if Manuel makes the grade.

 

[jibsey]

We saw Whaley do good things freshman year so not getting on the floor last year very much was puzzling. We have plenty of floor time to go around and players can improve themselves but these summer magical transformations never seem to pan out. Cases in point. Brimah, and Jalen’s 3 point shooting among others, yet we saw a big jump last year from Carlton so hope springs eternal for guys like Wilson, Whaley and Polley. It’s not like this is Duke and we can go to the next group of McD’s on the bench.

 

[RichZ]

Going into last season, many of us expected to see him starting. Based on the previous season, expectations were for him to be our best big. But no one really expected the quantum leap that Josh took, and apparently, Hurley didn't see the same promise in Isaiah that many here (including me) did.
I guess that coach appreciated him coming in and doing solid work in the AAC tourney.
Sounds like he got serious about working on the things Hurley told him needed work. Good for him! Hope to see him kill it this season. And next.

 

[coachn]

Issiah was always one of my favorites. Was great last year till he got hurt then the coach gave the job to Cobb even though IW had more upside.
He can play solid defense maybe the best of the big men. Will rebound with anyone. Attitude after what he has been thru outstanding. Looking forward to watching him kill it next season. GO ISSIAH!

 

[Krugs17]

Article quotes Whaley avergaing 30 min a game as a freshman... he averaged 13.8 min.. How do you get that that wrong?

"Whaley, from Gastonia, N.C., came to UConn during the summer of 2017, filling the roster following the wave of transfers that spring. He started 12 games, averaging 30 minutes as a freshman. Whaley injured an ankle last fall and fell behind as Hurley installed his system, and the Huskies went with Cobb, the senior, as the primary backup. "

 

[pj]

Article quotes Whaley avergaing 30 min a game as a freshman... he averaged 13.8 min.. How do you get that that wrong?

"Whaley, from Gastonia, N.C., came to UConn during the summer of 2017, filling the roster following the wave of transfers that spring. He started 12 games, averaging 30 minutes as a freshman. Whaley injured an ankle last fall and fell behind as Hurley installed his system, and the Huskies went with Cobb, the senior, as the primary backup. "

Probably Alexa or Siri told him "13" and he heard "30".

 

[joober jones]

It's refreshing when a player shows that they really want to be at UConn. Whaley was already my favorite guy on the team, but now I'm rooting for him harder than ever.

 

[RichZ]

Article quotes Whaley avergaing 30 min a game as a freshman... he averaged 13.8 min.. How do you get that that wrong?

"Whaley, from Gastonia, N.C., came to UConn during the summer of 2017, filling the roster following the wave of transfers that spring. He started 12 games, averaging 30 minutes as a freshman. Whaley injured an ankle last fall and fell behind as Hurley installed his system, and the Huskies went with Cobb, the senior, as the primary backup. "

I read it as he averaged 30 minutes in the 12 games that he started. That would have left him with about a 3 minute average for the 18 games he didn't start.

 

[NYC_HUSKY22]

View attachment 44658

I like the Photoshop of Isaiah's beard extending into the other photo. That's some fine attention to detail there sir. Touche.

 

[SeattleHoop]

View attachment 44658

Hope you erased your google search history after that one

 

[husky429]

Issiah was always one of my favorites. Was great last year till he got hurt then the coach gave the job to Cobb even though IW had more upside.
He can play solid defense maybe the best of the big men. Will rebound with anyone. Attitude after what he has been thru outstanding. Looking forward to watching him kill it next season. GO ISSIAH!

Fouling out in 10 mins of playing time isn't good defense coach c'mon. He will get better though.

 

[husky429]

Going into last season, many of us expected to see him starting. Based on the previous season, expectations were for him to be our best big. But no one really expected the quantum leap that Josh took, and apparently, Hurley didn't see the same promise in Isaiah that many here (including me) did.
I guess that coach appreciated him coming in and doing solid work in the AAC tourney.
Sounds like he got serious about working on the things Hurley told him needed work. Good for him! Hope to see him kill it this season. And next.

You did not have very reasonable expectations. Josh was always the candidate to make a leap. I think he averaged close to 10/7 the last 10 games of his freshman year.

Whaley will always be a not-in-the-box score type unless this weight can is serious and sticks. He doesn't have the IQ to hang with real players. He gets by being a heck of an athlete

 

[mauconnfan]

You did not have very reasonable expectations. Josh was always the candidate to make a leap. I think he averaged close to 10/7 the last 10 games of his freshman year.

Whaley will always be a not-in-the-box score type unless this weight can is serious and sticks. He doesn't have the IQ to hang with real players. He gets by being a heck of an athlete

IQ or skills? I don't think we've seen enough to doubt his IQ but when we have seen him he seems plenty smart enough to understand where to help, hedge etc on D but his skills offensively for now limit his ability to be a huge factor on that end except for the offensive rebound with the occasional put back. I mean IQ doubts went to Cobb, Whaley knew where to be just wasn't strong enough at all times to complete the requirements. Maybe this weight will be a nice factor for him on the defensive end to not only help on D but to also gather in the rebound. Ways to go for IW but like and respect the fact he wants to be a Husky hope it all works out for the young man.

 

[dennismenace]

Always liked Whaley's energy. With added muscle and his nose for the ball expect him to come in and rebound. Relentless offensive boards. Do the dirty work. I think the added weight will give him more confidence. Really sounds like a great kid. Cooking up pancakes for Josh and Polley? LOL they should have a video of that! I like the fact that Kentan Facey is around to help out this off season.

 

[pj]

You did not have very reasonable expectations. Josh was always the candidate to make a leap. I think he averaged close to 10/7 the last 10 games of his freshman year.

Whaley will always be a not-in-the-box score type unless this weight can is serious and sticks. He doesn't have the IQ to hang with real players. He gets by being a heck of an athlete

Whaley wasn't able to learn the plays in his first year, and the plays will probably only get more complicated as Hurley gets his system and players fully in place. I think you're right, his IQ is his barrier to success.

 

[3rdbass]

Going into last season, many of us expected to see him starting. Based on the previous season, expectations were for him to be our best big. But no one really expected the quantum leap that Josh took, and apparently, Hurley didn't see the same promise in Isaiah that many here (including me) did.
I guess that coach appreciated him coming in and doing solid work in the AAC tourney.
Sounds like he got serious about working on the things Hurley told him needed work. Good for him! Hope to see him kill it this season. And next.

I don’t think many thought he would be our best big based on his freshman year. He was definitely below Carlton and Cobb who had a great time losing weight in getting in shape. Maybe 3rd best but I think most people on here thought Diarra might be healthy enough to contribute so realistically 4th. Hopefully he improves as we will need it but he hasn’t really showed much besides being active though outmuscled on defense and having no scoring game and getting rebounds on offense. So if he can at least hold his own on defense this year with the added muscle I would see that as a success.

 

[husky429]

IQ or skills? I don't think we've seen enough to doubt his IQ but when we have seen him he seems plenty smart enough to understand where to help, hedge etc on D but his skills offensively for now limit his ability to be a huge factor on that end except for the offensive rebound with the occasional put back. I mean IQ doubts went to Cobb, Whaley knew where to be just wasn't strong enough at all times to complete the requirements. Maybe this weight will be a nice factor for him on the defensive end to not only help on D but to also gather in the rebound. Ways to go for IW but like and respect the fact he wants to be a Husky hope it all works out for the young man.

He fouled like crazy. That's an IQ issue. Knowing where to be on the court on offense is an IQ issue. To clarify not his actual intelligence.. just understanding offense and defensive team concepts.

He had a very tumtultuous 2 years here with the staff change. This is totally his chance to make a big leap and be a solid back up. If kentan can, so can Whaley

 

[3rdbass]

He fouled like crazy. That's an IQ issue. Knowing where to be on the court on offense is an IQ issue. To clarify not his actual intelligence.. just understanding offense and defensive team concepts.

He had a very tumtultuous 2 years here with the staff change. This is totally his chance to make a big leap and be a solid back up. If kentan can, so can Whaley

Facey was a top 100 recruit with some skills and a better shot. Not really a good comparison for a guy who doesn’t have a lot of basketball skills at this time.

 

[mauconnfan]

He fouled like crazy. That's an IQ issue. Knowing where to be on the court on offense is an IQ issue. To clarify not his actual intelligence.. just understanding offense and defensive team concepts.

He had a very tumtultuous 2 years here with the staff change. This is totally his chance to make a big leap and be a solid back up. If kentan can, so can Whaley

He has the basketball IQ to play the game we've seen it on D. You don't need to clarify actual intelligence with basketball intelligence with me I talked about that the whole Brimah regime. Hate to say this but not learning plays isn't always related to bball IQ I'm afraid. He showed he gets the D side better than most we've had in the most recent past. Better than Brimah, Enoch and Cobb. Not saying he's a better defender than Brimah I know there's some who would hammer me for that lol. The whole hedge and retreat, help defense he is decent at so he has some concepts but yeah, needs to know where to be on offense and get a better understanding of that end. Ultimately though he needs to end up near the basket when a shot goes up because he has the natural instincts for the ball and o-rebounding could be a strength for him.

He does foul a lot but also gets nailed for many that were questionable at best. He's that guy but needs to keep the hands out of the cookie jar as that isn't very smart at all and something he will need to improve upon.

I'm guessing in all reality none of us can be sure of how good or bad his IQ is in 3.8 minutes a game anyway. We will need a stronger, active and smarter player in '19-'20 no matter if he is to get 8-12 minutes a game.

 

[uconnfan68]

Only disappointing part... says he doesn't jump as high with extra weight. Why couldn't it have been muscle?

 

[mauconnfan]

Only disappointing part... says he doesn't jump as high with extra weight. Why couldn't it have been muscle?

Saw that also 68 and it made me wonder. When he's active he can swat a couple shots and being long can change some too. But suddenly he can tell he's not jumping as high? Maybe that all comes back as he plays more hope so.

 

[HuskyHawk]

He has the basketball IQ to play the game we've seen it on D. You don't need to clarify actual intelligence with basketball intelligence with me I talked about that the whole Brimah regime. Hate to say this but not learning plays isn't always related to bball IQ I'm afraid. He showed he gets the D side better than most we've had in the most recent past. Better than Brimah, Enoch and Cobb. Not saying he's a better defender than Brimah I know there's some who would hammer me for that lol. The whole hedge and retreat, help defense he is decent at so he has some concepts but yeah, needs to know where to be on offense and get a better understanding of that end. Ultimately though he needs to end up near the basket when a shot goes up because he has the natural instincts for the ball and o-rebounding could be a strength for him.

He does foul a lot but also gets nailed for many that were questionable at best. He's that guy but needs to keep the hands out of the cookie jar as that isn't very smart at all and something he will need to improve upon.

I'm guessing in all reality none of us can be sure of how good or bad his IQ is in 3.8 minutes a game anyway. We will need a stronger, active and smarter player in '19-'20 no matter if he is to get 8-12 minutes a game.

I never got the sense that he had a low basketball IQ. On offense, I think he just lacks any real talent. He can dunk and get put backs. Hopefully set some high ball screens. We aren't going to run any offense through him or feed him in the paint. Article said he was working on a short jumper, that would help.

On defense I think his fouls came in part because he couldn't hold ground so used his natural length and shotblocking to try to block everything, which resulted in a lot of wrist slap fouls. If he can hold position, he won't be behind the shooter or be pushed out of position as often and should be able to stay vertical.
Our whole damned team was awful at over-helping under Ollie and only started to improve last year. We have got to stop leaving 3 point shooters open to triple team guys in the paint. If we've got Whaley and Akok inside, that's enough intimidation for any penetrating guard. I think he will fit better in this defense than he has.

We are talking about a 10 minute a game guy here at most. I think we can live with his limitations in short stretches. He's a strong rebounder if nothing else.

 

[superjohn]

Ahhhhhh, the offseason where we forget what players look like on the court.

 

[bmayuc]

I've never understood the folks not on team pork chop. On a good team he should be the 2nd big off the bench who plays 5-10 minutes of high energy havoc/rebounding/defense and in a pinch is rolled out in a rock fight and/or foul situation. And he is a good player in that role. he is not a world beater but the guy can run/jump and get boards and get blocks and play decent positional defense.

What else do you want out of an 8th/9th man?

 

[freescooter]

He is 5 fouls in the middle. I love these off season puff pieces. Every man an all America in July. Alas winter arrives and reality sets in.

Now you say “But Hilton...”